12.3 Deities and Afterlifes
When a humanoid creature dies in Rise, they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will go to an afterlife. Most likely, they know exactly which afterlife they will go to, either as a result of their alignment or their worship of a particular deity. In that afterlife, they will live again for as long as they want, though they cannot leave without being magically resurrected. People are confident that this is true because deities have told them so, and deities are provably real. Also, rare and powerful magic can be used to communicate with people in their afterlife, or even to physically travel to an afterlife plane. It is an undisputed fact that Rise is filled with a wide variety of deities of varying power and influence. They divinely empower their clerics to act on their behalf. Many people know, though some chain of connections, someone who chose to become a cleric and was quickly rewarded with divine magic far beyond anything they could previously do on their own. Everyone has heard legends of deities intervening more directly in the world even without a cleric, though these stories are rare and few have experienced them firsthand. There are nine distinct afterlife planes, with one plane for each alignment combination. Each of those planes is divided into layers. Some of those layers are reserved for deities, with major deities claiming layers that are entirely their own and multiple minor deities sharing territory within a single layer. The remaining layers have no specific associated deity. People can travel between the layers, though the specific mechanisms for traversing layers are different for each afterlife plane. Most people do not know this level of detail about afterlife planes, and a commoner would simply be confident that they will go where they belong. It is well known that the afterlife planes for evildoers are much harsher than the other afterlife planes. The three evil afterlife planes are collectively referred to the Abyss. Demons stalk those planes, tormenting evildoers for their own sadistic reasons. One of the reasons that some people worship evil deities is to gain a promise of safety, since evil deities protect their worshippers from demonic torment in the afterlife. It is also said that demons only torment the weak-willed, and that those who escape demonic torments are free to live in hedonistic luxury. There is truth in this, though there are far more people who are confident that they would rule proudly in the Abyss than people who succeed. A list of specific well-known deities is given in Table 12.1: Deities. The many minor deities worshipped by monsters are not listed here. Of course, the GM may use their own custom pantheon.
Deity | Alignment | Domains |
Gregory, warrior god of mundanity |
Lawful good | Law, Protection, Strength, War |
Guftas, horse god of justice | Lawful good | Good, Law, Strength, Travel |
Lucied, paladin god of justice | Lawful good | Destruction, Good, Protection, War |
Simor, fighter god of protection | Lawful good | Good, Protection, Strength, War |
Ayala, naiad god of water | Neutral good | Life, Magic, Water, Wild |
Pabs Beerbeard, dwarf god of drink | Neutral good | Good, Life, Strength, Wild |
Rucks, monk god of pragmatism | Neutral good | Good, Law, Protection, Travel |
Vanya, centaur god of nature | Neutral good | Good, Strength, Travel, Wild |
Brushtwig, pixie god of creativity | Chaotic good | Chaos, Good, Trickery, Wild |
Camilla, tiefling god of fire | Chaotic good | Fire, Good, Magic, Protection |
Chavi, wandering god of stories | Chaotic good | Chaos, Knowledge, Trickery |
Chort, dwarf god of optimism | Chaotic good | Good, Life, Travel, Wild |
Ivan Ivanovitch, bear god of strength | Chaotic good | Chaos, Strength, War, Wild |
Krunch, barbarian god of destruction | Chaotic good | Destruction, Good, Strength, War |
Sir Cakes, dwarf god of freedom | Chaotic good | Chaos, Good, Strength |
Mikolash, scholar god of knowledge | Lawful neutral | Knowledge, Law, Magic, Protection |
Raphael, monk god of retribution | Lawful neutral | Death, Law, Protection, Travel |
Declan, god of fire | True neutral | Destruction, Fire, Knowledge, Magic |
Mammon, golem god of endurance | True neutral | Knowledge, Magic, Protection, Strength |
Kurai, shaman god of nature | True neutral | Air, Earth, Fire, Water |
Amanita, druid god of decay | Chaotic neutral | Chaos, Destruction, Life, Wild |
Antimony, elf god of necromancy | Chaotic neutral | Death, Knowledge, Life, Magic |
Clockwork, elf god of time | Chaotic neutral | Chaos, Magic, Trickery, Travel |
Diplo, doll god of destruction | Chaotic neutral | Chaos, Destruction, Strength, War |
Lord Khallus, fighter god of pride | Chaotic neutral | Chaos, Strength, War |
Celeano, sorcerer god of deception | Chaotic neutral | Chaos, Magic, Protection, Trickery |
Murdoc, god of mercenaries | Chaotic neutral | Destruction, Knowledge, Travel, War |
Ribo, halfling god of trickery | Chaotic neutral | Chaos, Trickery, Water |
Tak, orc god of war | Lawful evil | Law, Strength, Trickery, War |
Theodolus, sorcerer god of ambition | Neutral evil | Evil, Knowledge, Magic, Trickery |
Daeghul, demon god of slaughter | Chaotic evil | Destruction, Evil, Magic, War |
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